shut your windows, lock your doors. cpac has come to town. it's thursday, march 6th, and this is "now." the largest and most important gathering of conservatives of the year. the first cattle call of the 2016 presidential cycle. >> the 2012 election didn't go exactly as we thought. >> the most conservative of conservatives. >> this president is a smart man. it may be time to revisit that assumption. >> includes senator ted cruz. >> all of us remember president mccain, president romney. >> people didn't like mitt romney that much. they loved ted cruz. >> let's come out of this conference ree sovlted to win elections. >> every poll you end up seeing

chris christie, he's not faring that well versus a hillary clinton. >> we know there will be red meat over the next few days. >> we don't need obamacare forcing pizza places to tell us how many calories are on our pizza. >> the question is how broad will it be? >> i'm not sure about you but i don't even want to know how many calories are on my pizza. >> we'll look back at 2014 as the time we got it right. it is a day everyone, or some people have been waiting for, the day conservatives descend on the nation's capital. or a conference center in suburban maryland. today marks the start of the annual right-wing ritual known as cpac. kicking off the festivities this year the man who turned a reading of green eggs and ham into a bizarre public exercise in self-worship, texas senator rafael edward ted cruz. highlighting the fact that he is

really not serious at all about governing. senator cruz came out swinging against the president by doing his best jay leno impression. >> last fall jay leno said, "so president obama called me. he said, jay, if you like your job, you can keep it." >> senator cruz then dropped "princess bride" quotes. >> president obama told bill o'reilly during the super bowl there's not a smidgen of corruption with the irs. reminded me of one of my favorite movies. "you keep on using that word. i do not think it mean what is you think it means." >> but not without nasty commentary for his own party. this morning he did not disappoint. >> then of course all of us remember president dole.

and president mccain. and president romney. now, look, those are good men. they're decent men. but when you don't stand and draw a clear distinction, when you don't stand for principle, democrats celebrate. >> smearing senator mccain's record kind of awkward. but smearing mitt romney minutes before his former running mate took the stage, really awkward. >> i don't see this great divide in our party. what i see is a vibrant debate. >> a vibrant debate. congressman ryan's attempt to endear himself to the cpac crowd could not, did not compare with the humiliatingly desperate theatrics of the man who perhaps most embodies the establishment wing of the republican party, a man who faces his very own tea party challenge this year, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, who walked on stage holding a three-foot-long rifle above his head to the bon jovi song "living on a prayer." this really happened.

the rifle was apparently ap award for departing nebraska senator tom coburn, because big on-stage rifle exchange is how conservatives celebrate one another. and then there was louisiana governor bobby jindal, whose biggest applause line involved insulting not one but two presidents. >> president carter, i want to issue a sincere apology. it is no longer fair to say he was the worst president of this great country in my lifetime. president obama has proven me wrong. >> but all that was a prelude to this year's main event a man who wasn't even invited to the festivities last year, a man who was not too long ago seen embracing the president of the united states, governor of new jersey chris christie who went after president obama by saying this. >> you're the leader of the government. you see something getting ready to go off the rails and what you decide to do is stay as far away from it as possible. >> for the man who has responded

to the greatest cry ses of his career by avoiding discussion, distancing himself from controversy and otherwise blaming everyone around him, the poetic irony was perhaps lost on his audience. joining me now sam stein. you're still standing. you've done a day at cpac. congratulations to you, my friend, on that alone. let's first speak of chris christie. how has the reception been? the hardcore conservative fringe is not exactly chris christie's bailiwick. how are they treating him this year? i thought it was a fairly decent reception. he had a lot of energy behind his speech. they like the swings of president obama and regardless of who they come from, so in that regard chris christie had a low bar to clear. but there's clearly antipathy towards the guy. i was in the basement where they were handing out these stress balls or bricks and say thai said you can throw them against the wall when your blood pressure rises and they have a list of ten people you can

customize them for, nine were democrats and one was chris christie. they said it's market demand. some antipathy for chris christie, but by and large when he takes swings at the president you will be adored by this type of crowd. >> and nobody takes more swings than ted cruz, whose sort of same shameless abuse of the oval office is now almost living legend. today he called to abolish the irs. my question to you is, sam, does ted cruz run out of incendiary running room at some point? like does he actually paint himself into a corner where he is actually off the edge of the earth in terms of conservative rhetoric and outlandish proposals? >> no. i don't think so. >> not possible. >> no. but also ted cruz basically understands the emotions of the conservative movement better than anyone at least this morning speaking. and he had this audience in the palm of his hand much more so than any other speaker i

thought. and i think he understands there's an appetite to basically unravel the totality of the president's agenda. the key applause on that i thought was sort of telling in some respects. he said i want to appeal every word of obamacare. redundancy. repeal obamacare. but they just ate it up. i think he gets it. he understands they are tired that there's energy in this room among the conservative movement that just wants to be tapped into and he taps into it. >> he's also a performer. there was that tape of the young thespian ted cruz that circulated some weeks ago. and the jay leno impressions and the -- i don't know which character that was from the princess bride and i know my -- >> it was montoya. >> it was. mandy patinkin shoutout. but this guy loves performance. that all i thought was underscored today. >> clearly. >> kind of laugh lines and so forth. >> yeah. you're absolutely right. and he's good at it too. keep in mind, he gets up here and he doesn't look at any

remarks, no teleprompter, loves the stage and the spotlight, and he's good at it. the trademarks of a very good politician. >> you know who's not good at it is mitch mcconnell because that photograph of him walking out with a gigantic rifle held above his head, there was a lot of pushback after that circulated on the internet, and the caveat, that was a gift to tom coburn, but make no mistake, mitch mcconnell is running around the halls of capitol hill with bon jovi soundtracks playing in the background. >> at least not that we know of. i'm glad i didn't bring my rifle to cpac because it would have been really awkward. i had one as a gift for coburn as well. >> you have bon jovi walk-on music. >> that's a given. i clearly wanted him a nice foe top op of him walking out there with his rifle. it was echoes of charlton heston at cpac not so long ago. this is someone constantly

trying to re-establish his kefshg credentials, and no better way to do it than that type of imagery. >> don't you think on some level that's a little insulting to the audience? here's mitch mcconnell, who is the guy that is the moderate republican -- i mean, i wouldn't say these are bad things to broker deals with democrats and ensure the solvency of the u.s. economy. but these are have become black marks on his record if you're a hardcore conservative. by raising a guing a gun up, is demeaning? i'm going to lift a gun up with bon jovi playing. love me. >> i think what you're getting at is it's almost like he's trying too hard. >> and it's fairly obvious. >> i think that's right. i wouldn't discount that. but they must have cal lated the signals it sends to hold the gun above your head outweigh the cost of insincerity you get. >> mitch mcconnell is running four points behind in the kentucky race. his opponent tweeted out after,

whenever he's not busy pandering to d.c. lobbyists, i welcome senator mcconnell to come shoot with me at the range any day. everybody needs to have guns i guess at this point to get senate seats. let me ask you about bobby jindal. after the state of the union response he botch sod royally a few years ago, he was largely dils missed as a real continue tender but with the dissent of chris christie and marco rubio, it feels like from the outside jindal's star is ascending and people are taking him more seriously as a 2016 contender. what was the room like when he spoke? >> you know, it's tough to tell. in some respects i think you're right. i think people regard him as an innovator, at least a policy innovator, especially on the health care front. he's clearly articulate, has an outside washington agenda which is not to be discounted in this climate. but, you know, it's tough to get a feel on how receptive people are here. i think jindal is trying to position himself smartly by

constantly throwing barbs at the white house. keep in mind, he was standing outside the white house physically not maybe a week or so ago where he attacked the president for waving a white flag. he wants to insert himself in the conversation. i do wonder if people look at it the same way they look at mitch mcconnell with a gun over his head and say he's trying too hard. insincere. as a broader point, the republican party may not have too much policy divergence between the top candidates but there is a lot of different type of career tranls coming in. chris christie emphasizing his a ho-hum governor experience, paul ryan as the intellect of the party, policy credentials, the ted cruz, passion. they have a lot of different options to choose from. it will be an interesting race. >> to say the least. last question, sam. marco rubio, we e didn't play sound from him, but i guess he has to make up some lost ground because he did the dastardly thing of trying to get immigration reform passed with democratic cooperation. he talked about foreign policy,

accused the president of moral relativism, talked about the fact that this administration in his eyes has strengthened america's enemies. what is the sense again among cpac attendees about marco rubio's prospects in the coming year? was there tangible warmth or iciness? >> it's interesting enough, there's an amnesty panel going on, immigration am necessary si panel going on right now outside of the hall. i'd be curious to see what they'd say about marco rubio there so i don't want to comment on that specifically. but with respect to foreign policy, probably the speaker who touched on it the most of the main speakers today. i talked to people outside the halls and they are ambivalent using any tough, big footprint response with respect to the current crisis in ukraine. there is a large ambivalence among republicans, democrats, getting involved internationally, overextending ourselves internationally. i would say rubio should probably be more cautious about that if he wants to appeal to a

base. i think they're in a different place than they were during the george w. bush administration. >> look out, marco rubio. there might be a stress ball with your name on it if you're not careful. "the huffington post's" sam stein, thanks for that speed round. >> can i say one thing? >> yeah. >> the best part of the day was donald trump got up there and he talked about jim m carter, said the late great jimmy carter. jimmy carter is alive. he's not late. i feel bad. want to send my sympathies. >> roundly insulted multiple times today. poor president carter. we'll end on that note. >> poor guy. >> thanks, sam. coming um, president obama plays the role of explainer in chief, answering questions today at a town hall on the affordable care act and immigration reform. we'll talk with the co-host of that event, telemundo's jose diaz bullard. but first president delivers a tough afternoon statement on ukraine plooif the white house briefing room. isle ask deputy national security advisor ben rhodes and

the new republican's julia jaffe about the administration's latest position on crimea and russia. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

today speaker john boehner gave the oversight committee his seal of a. first, the white house and the state department have harsh words for russia in response to the crisis in ukraine. ben rhodes and the new republic's julia jaffe join me next. ♪

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at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ignoring warnings from western governments. the pro-russian parliament in crimea today voted unanimously to break-away from ukraine and become a part of the russian federation. the parliament has now scheduled a march 16th referendum so that crimean voters can weigh in. appearing in the white house briefing room hours later president obama made clear that a referendum would not be acceptable to the united states. >> the proposed referendum on the future of crimea would violate the ukrainian constitution and violate international law. any discussion about the future of ukraine must include the legitimate government of ukraine. >> the president's statement came as secretary of state john kerry met with his russian counterpart sergey lavrov in rome for a second day of talks

aimed at defusing the crisis. kerry announced new sanction, a visa ban on russian and ukrainian officials deemed complicit in threatening ukraine's territorial integrity. in conjunction, president obama issued an executive order allowing further sanction on those individuals including asset freezes. but 16,000 russian troops remain stationed in crimea and a diplomatic solution continues to elude all sides. joining me from the white house is deputy national security advisor for strategic communications and speechwriting, ben rhodes. ben, thanks for taking the time to do this. i know it's a very busy day at the white house. let me just first get, you know, the white house position on this crimean referendum. do you see this as russian strong-arming? >> well, look, alex, we have've been very clear that you cannot make decisions about parts or regions of ukraine without the government of ukraine at the table. nor can you do it in a time when

the people in crimea are under coercion from russian forces. so this is not a legit gnat exercise, it's not consistent with the ukrainian constitution, and we will reject it as will our european allies. we won't recognize the results of this type of exercise. >> ben, you know, what struck me in the last few days is the sharpness of the rhetoric. putin's rhetoric is a little more muddled but certainly out of the white house and from the state department we are using language that we have not -- there's a sharpness to the correspondence, if you will, that has not been present in several years. and even today there is i think ten false claims about ukraine on the state department website, which is something that is reminiscent of both buzz feed and, you know, like oppo research more so than something out of the state department. to what degree has our relationship with the russians deteriorated? >> well, it's the russian decision to violate the ukrainian sovereignty that has prompted our actions and our rhetoric. and the fact is russia has made a number of claims that are just

false about the situation. they've said the government in kiev isn't legitimate. it is. it's a democratic parliament exercising authority after the russian leader packed up and left the country. the russians have said ethnic russians are under target in parts of ukraine. they are not. we have seen no evidence of that. we've felt strongly we have to push back on what we see as false narratives and make clear that so long as russia continues to violate the territorial integrity of ukraine they'll face consequences, isolation, sanctions from the united states and our allies. >> what does that do to our relationship with the russians on a host of other issue where is we need if not their cooperation then at least some version of collaboration? and i mean specifically iran, syria, to some degree afghanistan. i mean, do we have any relationship diplomatally with the russians at this point? >> well, we have a very broad relationship with the russians, alex, but what we've said is that relationship is going to

suffer the longer they do this. that's why we have've cannes led bilateral and trade talks, joint military exercises. on to the other issues, not like we've had great cooperation from russia on syria. they're working with us on the chemical weapons issue. interesting the chemical weapons are begin to get out of syria fastener recent days. on iran, they ear not at the table with us on iran out of a favor to the united states. they're there because they don't have an interest in iranian nuclear weapon or escalations of tensions in the persian gulf. some of these matters we'll continue to work on. again, we would expect that russia will be at the table again not because it's a favor to us but because in terms of global security we have an interest in iran getting a nuclear weapon. >> you think russia's self-interest will keep them at the bargaining table. >> well, russia's been a part of this p5 plus 1 process with respect to iran. i'd also say iran is at the table not because they want access necessarily to the russian economy. they want access to the european economy. they want access to the global

economy that they've been cut off from because of these sanctions. there's incentive for iran to make concessions necessary to reach a nuclear agreement. we'll still be clear when it comes to what russia as done because it's not something that can stand in the 21st century to violate the borders of a country to take control of a region of a country like we've seen in crim crimea. >> i have to ask you more broadly, the white house has weathered a lot of criticism in the last few weeks. i almost really want to telegraph to you the last year and a half. but specifically in this moment critics are saying that this white house has a very reactive foreign policy. it is not well articulated. it is -- we are never ahead of the game. we are always playing catch-up. yesterday the spokesperson for the director of national intelligence issued a statement in which he said reports that the intelligence community was caught off guard by events in crimea, are highly inaccurate. that may be true, but it certainly doesn't feel like we are ahead of the game.

i will point both of us back to the conversation we had not but 12 days ago where we talked about whether there was russian buy-in on agreement to hold elections in ukraine, whether the russians would stand by as ukrainians chose a new leader and curtailed the power of yanukovych. you said that it appeared that the russians were buying in. it doesn't feel like that today. >> well, actually, alex, first of all, the russians are the one who is continue to hold up that agreement. what happened is events got ahead of the russians. yanukovych fled the country, which is essentially rendering that agreement null and void. if you look at ukraine in particular, we have not been behind events at all. for the last three months we've been working to support the people of ukraine who were rejecting a pro-russian government in kiev. ultimately what happened is they exerted their voices, the pro-russian leader left town, we now have a more western-oriented government in kiev. those are the circumstances that

prompted president putin to take action in crimea. we ended wars in iraq, ending it in afghanistan, focusing on the threat from al qaeda. around the world we're focusing on regions we see tons for the united states, be it the asia-pacific region, sub-saharan africa, latin america. in ukraine, i think we're standing for principles thac the been consistent across parties and decades which is we support our friends and allies in eastern europe and stand against these types of proef cases. that was the case in 2008 when russia invaded georgia and both democrats and republicans opposed that intervention. that's the case today as we oppose russia's aks in ukraine. >> ben rhodes, thanks for your time. also for correcting apparently a major oversight on my part as well as the rest of media that's been covering this. it's kiev and not kiev? >> it is kiev. that is how the ukrainians refer to it. i know chicken kiev is the way in which -- >> dash cafeteria hopes around

the world. >> yes. kiev is definitely the capital of the government of ukraine and frankly the place we see very inspiring actions by the ukrainian people to take control of their future. >> always bringing it back around. ben rhodes, thanks for your time. >> thanks, alex. joining me is the senior editor at "the flu new republic let pe me get your read on vladimir putin. you wrote in a story we quoted on the show a few days ago about putin sort of taking off one set of shoes and putting on his -- now i've totally forgotten the quote, not despot shoes but -- >> dictator shoes. >> tle there we go. you made the point he's getting bad information, he's increasingly paranoid, that angela merkel had it right, he lost his mind. henry kissinger wrote an op-ed in "the washington post" today. for the west, the demonization of putin is not a policy, it is

the alibi for the absence of one. suggesting we are sheep in finding this anti-russian rhetoric instead of focusing on crafting real foreign policy. what is your thought about that? >> i mean, my thoughts about that is that we had one. it was called the reset. most people think it was this naive policy that we look everything, we're friends with the russians. actually, it was a more real poll teak policy. it was that we decouple the things we don't like like human rights violations and the kind of fuzzy wuzzy stuff from the geopolitical, geostrategic goals like the northern transit route into afghanistan, like dealing with potentially a nuclear iran, thing like that. the problem is the russians are the ones who derailed it.

this stuff about vilifying russia does not come from the west. the person who broke that was vladimir putin. this anti-americanism, anti-western rhetoric has been a cornerstone of his third term. it is the way he has legitimized his power, his increasingly stronghold on power. what americans aren't hearing about, for example, is what's going on in the home front in russia, how he's cracking down on everything that's left of the independent media, how -- i mean friends in moscow have told me their first-graders are coming home from school panicking that america is about to invade. i mean, that's not coming from washington. that's coming from within russia. and i think what people like henry kissinger overestimate is our ability to affect change here and influence things on the ground. what happened in ukraine was mostly an internal process despite russian meddling. this anti-western feeling inside russia is not because of things we were doing but because of what putin was doing, because he needed to legitimize his coming

back to the presidency, crushing pro-democratic protests by labeling them as agents of the west, saying they were paid for by the state department, and that he's the counterweight to this. he is the true russian ruler and he has to be kind of an anti-western thing. so this is his thing. this isn't our thing. >> julia, there's a serp amount -- there's a lack of awareness about the true dynamic on the ground, especially ukraine's history, i think most people don't understand at all. both you and henry kissinger make the point about the culture. you also made the important point that much of the split in terms of identity in ukraine is a generational one. tell us more about that. >> so like you said, most people in ukraine speak ukrainian. most people speak russian too. there's more people of russian ethnic origin in the east, but they all speak ukrainian.

people who speak russian, are ethnically russian, who are born after 1991, however, identify as ukrainian simply because they were born in independent ukraine. their parents' generation, their grandparents' generation, was born in a country where ukraine was not a country that existed. they were born in a capital known as russia. it's not a feeling of being russian but more soviet. it's the older people who feel that way. >> from a historical perspective, the complications in ukraine go back literally hundreds of years. and so for us kind of just stepping into it now it is really well worth reading about it and especially the stories that you've been printing in "the new republic." thanks for taking the time today. "the new republic's" julia ioffe. >> thanks for having me. the senate voted on a pair of key and controversial proposals to curb sexual assault in the military. details next.

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better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. it's eb. this afternoon, the senate took up two military sexual assault bills designed to address the epidemic of sexual assault in the armed services. by a vote of 55-45 the upper chamber voted down the bill sponsored by new york senator kirsten jill brand, one that would have moved prosecution outside the chain of command. just a short time later in a unanimous 100-0 procedural vote the senate passed the bill sponsored by missouri senator claire mccaskill which keeps prosecution within the chain of command. it does strip military commanders of their authority to overturn jury verdicts. the two senators had slightly different takes on whether issue had been fully resolved. >> when the sun sets today, this body will have passed 35 major

reforms in less than a year. making the military the most victim friendly organization in the world. >> this is not an opportunity to congratulate ourselves on the great reforms we've done. all of the reforms we've passed to date are meaningful and useful, but this problem isn't even close to being solved. >> coming up, $14 million, 15 separate congressional hearings, and 97,542 hours spent on the irs scandal. has congressman darrell issa revealed anything other than his own tyrannical tendencies? ♪ make every day, her day with a full menu of appetizers and entrées

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while the nasdaq lost 6. investors a little cautious ahead of tomorrow. we'll get the february jobs report. and they're wonder just what kind of impact we'll see from all the bad weather we've had this winter. a preview, we had the number of americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits falling last week to the lowest level in three months according to the labor department. if you live in san francisco you won't have to see that google barge anymore, that mysterious barge leaving and cruising towards stockton, california. seem they didn't have the right permits so you think they could have googled that. cn cnbc, first business. [ male announcer ] we know they're out there. you can't always see them. but it's our job to find them. the answers. the solutions. the innovations. all waiting to help us build something better. something more amazing. a safer, cleaner, brighter future.

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to bring every minute of every medal of nbcuniversal's coverage to every screen. so what's next? rio 2016. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal. the day after his administration announced another delay for the affordable care act, president obama sat down for a town hall in the nation's

capital to address another health care challenge -- enrolling hispanic-americans. the percentage of hispanics in the u.s. who are uninsured is nearly double the national rate, which makes their enrollment crucial to the success of the nation's health care law. but efforts to enroll them have been complicated. since the health care rollout in october, states have been delayed in their launch of spanish-language websites and spanish-speaking operators and health care navigators are in short supply. one of the biggest barriers has been fear of deportation. many his pan can americans live in what are called mixed households, home where is some family members are undocumented. and many of these family members have been reluctant to give out their information so they remain uninsured. earlier today the president addressed those concerns and usualed the hispanic community to sign up not for his sake but for theirs. >> if you are a u.s. citizen or you have a legal presence in this country, you are eligible.

for everybody out there in mixed family, there is no sharing of the data from the health care plan into immigration services. you should feel confident that if somebody in your family is eligible you should sign them up. you don't punish me by not signing up for health care. you're punishing yourself. that's not a matter of trusting me. that's a matter of looking for yourself. >> joining me now is the anchor of telemundo, jose diaz bullard, who co-hosted the president's town hall earlier today. always a good day when you're on our show. >> always a good day to be with you. what a day it was today. pretty his torque. the president of the united states spoke to the hispanic community in a town hall format where he was able to answer about 30 minutes worth of very specific questions dealing with immigration reform as you say, but specifically on health care for the latino commune. >> the idea of mixed households, the fear some have of giving their information to state or

local government, i feel this is one of the first times we've discussed this in terms of the national media. which is the biggest hurdle for the white house seeking enroll hispanics, and there are 10.2 latinos eligible for coverage under the affordable care act? that fear or that websites were slow to roll out, still english speakers only for operators. which is the bigger obstacle? >> the big picture is immigration and deportations. and you know what, you say it hasn't been really touched on in english and you're right and i applaud you for it because what many millions of people live is in a household where, for example, the kids may be born in the united states and the parents may be undocumented. let's say there are parents that live with their children and live with let's say a brother of one of the parents, an uncle or an aunt, and they may be undocumented. so what happens is that if you have -- and you have more than

1,000 deportations going on every single day in this country. any day now it will be 2 million, the total number of people deported under president barack obama's administration. so what you have is, if i have a kid born in the united states and i'm filling out the form online to get health insurance and i have to essentially say who i live with, where i live, and i'm thinking but then my dad and mom can never register because they're undocumented so someone is going to figure out, two and two is four, there are two documented and maybe two undocumented, then they're going to come get my parents. what is a bigger fear, not being insured or the possibility that your parents get deported? >> and jose, this sort of irony here was underscored by the fact that the president talked about deportati deportations. he was asked about it and he said -- he predicated with i am the champion in chief i think of immigration reform, but when it comes to deportations, i have to follow the letter of the law.

you just pointed out this is a historic number of deor the anticipations, almost 1,000 a day. on one hand, the president is trying to reassure people, sign up, don't worry about d deportati deportation, but his administration has been unstinting in deportation. what was the reaction in the room today on that comment? >> i just want to say i've interviewed the president probably 10 or 11 times since he has been president. i talk to him about this every single time. he is very consistent on this. he says he is simply following the letter of the law about deportations. congress sets the budget and tells him how to do things. he is following the law. you know, a lot of republicans are criticizing the president for not following the law the way they think the president should be following the law, taking unilateral decisions on things like deferred action for young people which has helped millions of young people who were brought here as kids. so you criticize the president on the one hand for not

following some of the rules you think he should be following, then when he's saying, listen, what i'm doing is following the rules on deportations he's criticized as well. the fact is that he's aware that this is a very difficult situation for millions of people in this country, and i'm talking about the undocumented population and those who live with them, but the question is what should he or could he be doing about this issue? while there is no immigration reform the house there's little he can do. >> do you think that answer satisfies the hispanic community? >> no. >> i'm speaking monolithally about it. >> no, i don't. today i had a young lady in the audience sitting there watching and listening to the president of the united states of america. she is a legal u.s. citizen. she's married to a man who does not have documents in this country and she says she is fearing the moment she is going to fill out the information about her household when they figure out that she's married but that her husband is not on

the rolls. look, it's a very difficult situation. that's why this all had to do with immigration reform. >> it does. and we are hearing rumors that nancy pelosi may go forward with a discharge petition many the house to force republican hands on the subject. it is certainly we are a chant we are in the middle of and not nearly close to the end of. jose balart, thank you. coming up, the issa man goeth. a stunning display of bad behavior yesterday. when jake and i first set out on our own, we ate anything. but in time you realize the better you eat, the better you feel. these days we both eat smarter. and i give jake purina cat chow naturals. made with real chicken and salmon, it's high in protein like a cat's natural diet.

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...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines" save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.d everybody knows that. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. basically what happened yesterday is chairman issa wanted to hold a hearing and then set it down before the

democrats could have one syllable. he sent me down because he did not want to hear what i was saying or what he thought i would say. that is un-american. i'm sorry. >> elijah cummings explaining darrell issa's stunning behavior yesterday. it was stunning mostly because of chairman issa's brazen behavior. to fully appreciate just how offensive congressman issa was on wednesday, it is worth going back to the videotape. after isa questioned former irs official lois learner for more than 11 minutes he attempted to adjourn the hearing without letting a single democrat speak. as congressman cummings, the ranking democrat on the committee, repeatedly canned kwd to ask a question, issa packed his bags. when congressman cummings continued to speak, issa tried to silence cummings literally by apparently holding down some sort of button on his panel.

before that awkward enough, the issa gave a close-it-down signal to the audio operators. that's right, the chairman of the congressional committee made the slit the throat motion as a sitting congressman was trying to speak. >> if you will sit down and allow me to ask a question. i am a member of the congress of the united states of america. i am tired of this. we ha we represent 700,000 people. you cannot just have a one-sided investigation. >> but the fact is one-sided investigations are exactly what congressman issa aims to have. this past december congressman issa cut the mike on democratic congressman john tierney at a hearing on the affordable care act. >> the gentleman is not in order. please. >> well, beneather is the chair and i think we have an issue here with -- >> cut the mike.

and in a 2011 hearing on the foreclosure crisis, aware that congressman cummings, again, was preparing a dissenting opening statement, issa changed the rules. "in a move that diverged radically from congressional custom, issa refused to allow the ranking democrat to offer his statement, deciding instead to bar all opening statements from the assembled committee members, himself included." it appears that some people have had enough. today democrats introduced a resolution on the house floor that, quote, strongly condemns the offensive and disrespectful manner in which chairman darrell e. issa conducted the hearing. surprising exactly no one, house republicans stood by issa's behavior and overwhelmingly voted to table, i.e., reject that resolution. issa's actions aren't just disrespectful and profoundly undemocratic. they are indicative of a republican party that has devolved into shameless

hypocrisy. as the gop expresses outrage at the alleged partisan behavior of irs officials, the man heading that investigation censors voices across the aisle. as republicans deride president obama as a dictator, their own members feel entitled enough to decide which elected congress members have the right to speak and which do not. but as joan walsh writes in salon today, this is not about the truth. it's not even really about the irs. darrell issa, she writes, is trying to shame the white house, and e elijah cummings makes a great stand-in. that is all for now. see you tomorrow live from austin, texas, at 4:00 p.m. eastern. "the ed show" starts now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" live from new york. let's get to work. >> this is not going to give us energy independence.

this is all about exporting. >> go to nebraska and talk to the folks on the ground. >> this is very personal for us. >> i was wrong. >> if i can change, everybody can change! >> i don't think america needs to take this risk. >> american families and american farmers will bear all the risk. >> it is literally in our backyard. >> oil companies will get all the reward. >> our customers continue to say they need this pipeline. >> if there's a crack, a leak, and it's going to be in that water. >> it will leak. >> it could be significant climate impact from the pipeline. >> people are coming around to the reality that this doesn't make a lot of sense. >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. well, i guess i'm america's new flip-flopper. here's how i viewed it. in case you haven't heard, i'm against the pipeline. well reasoned i believe and very profound. ask yourself the question, pick an issue that you,